The Demon in the Pastry Shop

16: The Ants at the Picnic

 The Collector wanted her alive. He never said he wanted her dead, and that meant he wanted Kit brought to him alive and that meant that Silus didn't save Kit because he couldn't bear to see her get pummeled by falling boulders, he saved her because that was his job.

But he was glad he got her out in time.

Silus' charged hand pointed up at the cavern top and stopped the rocks from falling. The lot of them collected in a sort of umbrella shape above them as Silus freezed their momentum. His magic allowed him to paralyze and suspend (temporarily). This was a bit of an unorthodox application, but it was keeping him and Kit alive under the cave-in.

Kit stood stricken at his side. Too afraid to come close, no doubt, but staying under the section of rocks he was holding back rather than stepping away and getting crushed.

In the scheme of things, Silus was worried less about the rocks and more about the creature that was causing the cavern to shake.

While he kept his magical hand over head to hold back the crumbling cave ceiling, he charged up his other hand because the magic on his right hand was starting to unstick and when that happened, the rocks would continue their momentum straight on top of them.

When there was enough essence of Myus in his left hand, he threw the magic out to a new section of the collapsing grotto. The pieces already near the ground found their way there and the ones above halted in the air. Silus glanced around until he found Kit's golden aura beside him.

"Move to the next section," he ordered, unable to keep the strain from seeping into his voice.

Kit hesitated. That was fair.

"I'll follow right after," he insisted, "I'm losing grip on this part. I don't want you to get crushed."

Though the hesitation still ruled her expression and body language, Kit took short, delicate steps underneath the other umbrella and once she found an even patch of ground, she looked back at him.

Silus had to turn his back on her and inch backward in order to avoid letting the stones crash onto him before he released the magic in his right hand. He gritted his teeth and shook out his angry fingers. His arms and hands didn't like it when he kept the magic going too long.

From the center of the cave where all the water poured into, dozens of dog-sized, ochre-bodied ants broke up into the collapsing cavern. Their bodies, thousands upon thousands who made these tunnels and lived in the deepest parts underground, clambered over each other like one animal threatening the structure of their abandoned rooms.

The shaking of the cavern knocked Silus from his stance. He pitched forward, but Kit grabbed him and leaned her whole body back to pull him upright.

The ants (Silus remembered they were called the Returners because they returned discarded things back into the cycle of nature) took little notice of the two of them. Silus recognized this for the miracle it was.

"Can you pull that table out of the sand?" Silus called to Kit over the rumbles. He whirled around to look at her and she shrugged with wide eyes. "Try," he insisted.

She hauled big bags of flour for the pastry shop, he knew she was strong enough to try.

The submerged table was just out of the Returners' stampede and at the edge of Silus' field of protection. If she could grab it, then they could use it for protection instead of using up all his magic. Kit made a frenzied zig-zag to the table and threw her arms around it like a friend.

She tugged and pulled and tried many different holds, but though it took a lot of yanking, at one final haul with all her weight at stake, the table popped out of the ground. Her eyebrows shot up and she stayed on her back in awe for a moment before she grabbed it and pulled the scraping legs over the rock to Silus.